Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a home system for managing an internet network access connection.
Description of Related Art
Today, a very great majority of households in developed countries own equipment for connecting to the internet at home, and more and more services of modern life, such as telephony, television reception, information searching, online purchases or even administrative procedures, depend directly on the reliability of this internet connection.
However, access interruptions or breakdowns of the equipment used for the connection (ADSL modems, routers, operator network etc.) or of the cables connecting the equipment remain frequent, of the order of several days a year, with increasingly serious consequences for the comfort of users.
Certain access providers have already proposed to provide their clients with a 3G key that can act as relay when the ADSL modem/router box to which the home PC is linked fails in its attempts to connect no the internet. In practice, the user must first declare to his access provider that there is a connection problem, then plug this key into a USB port provided for this purpose on the corresponding modem/router box equipping his home. Internet access can then be carried out by a 3G connection made possible by a 3G modem incorporated into this key.
This procedure exhibits a certain number of drawbacks. First of all, it is not automatic since the user must himself connect the 3G key on his modem/router box when he encounters a connection problem. Furthermore, the fact that the user must previously declare a connection problem via his main access network can pose a problem, notably if the breakdown deprives the user of all outside access from their home (telephone communications and internet simultaneously interrupted). Moreover, the time allocated by the access provider for internet sessions using the 3G key as a relay is generally limited to a connection credit equivalent to an amount of data bytes. Moreover, the 3G key being assigned to the same access provider as the modem/router box, it cannot act as back-up connection in cases where the connection failure is due to a problem on the server of the access provider. Finally, this solution only applies to home network architectures in which a PC is connected to a modem/router box allowing access to the internet. Thus, the 3G key used as a relay does not make it possible to solve connection problems encountered by other home architectures, such as a direct connection by a PC equipped with an on-board ADSL modem.